


Inflamed

by OreoLuvr13



Series: The Aches and Pains of Sonny Carisi [3]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Barisi - Freeform, Established Relationship, M/M, Sickfic, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-05-16 13:21:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14812151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OreoLuvr13/pseuds/OreoLuvr13
Summary: “What’s wrong?” Rafael asks opening his eyes.“My stomach,” Sonny replies as he turns back onto his side to face Rafael. “It hurts.”“Your stomach?” He quips. “I told you not to try that Korean-Jamaican fusion monstrosity last night.”“It sounded good. It got great reviews online.”“And how are those reviews working out for you now?”Sonny gets a stomach ache, but of course it can never be that simple when it comes to them.





	1. Chapter 1

Sonny’s eyes open to his dark bedroom. It’s not just dark, it’s nearly pitch black. The only light peeking into the bedroom is coming from the street lights outside of the apartment. He looks at his watch-3:32. Why the hell is he up? It’s not like his body can’t use the rest. Then as if to answer his question, a dull ache pulses in his stomach. He tries rubbing the area to soothe the ache. Nothing. He decides to change positions, maybe lying on his back will help. Nope. He flips back onto his side. Nothing. He rolls onto his other side, facing Rafael. He inches closer to the other man. Just being close to Rafael usually makes him feel better. Settles his nerves. Eases his tired muscles and overwhelming thoughts after a long day. 

And it does seem to work for a bit. Sonny is just starting to fall back asleep when the pain level kicks up a couple of levels. He lets out a frustrated sigh as he flops back onto his back.

“I swear I’m going to kick you if you don’t stop sighing and flailing around,” Rafael says tiredly from his side of the bed, his eyes still closed.

“I can’t help it,” Sonny whines. Yes, whines. He can’t help it. His stomach hurts and all he wants is to go to sleep but he can’t. 

“What’s wrong?” Rafael asks opening his eyes.

“My stomach,” Sonny replies as he turns back onto his side to face Rafael. “It hurts.”

Sonny may not be able to see the other man, but he’s pretty damn sure that he’s rolling his eyes at him.

“Your stomach?” He quips. “I told you not to try that Korean-Jamaican fusion monstrosity last night.”

“It sounded good. It got great reviews online.”

“And how are those reviews working out for you now?” 

Now it’s Sonny’s turn to roll his eyes. 

“Now you can’t sleep, which means I can’t sleep. And I have opening statements for the Mancusso case tomorrow morning." He turns to look at the clock that's on his side of the bed. " No, let me rephrase, this morning. As in about six hours from now. So take some tums and go back to sleep.”

“Thanks a lot, counselor.” Sonny says as he sits up.

“No problem, detective.” Rafael says as he’s already burying his head back in his pillow.

Rebuffed, Sonny carefully gets up from bed and goes to the bathroom to find something that will hopefully settle his stomach. When he returns to bed, he finds that Rafael has already fallen asleep, his soft snores filling their bedroom. Sonny carefully lays down, so he does not wake the other man as well as not to aggravate his sore stomach. He lays there listening to the other man’s breathing as he wills his own body to sleep asleep and for the pain to go away.

XXX

The next time Rafael wakes up, it’s to his alarm. After turning it off, he rolls over and sees Sonny is still in bed, curled up facing the door. That’s not too surprising. Like all other days where he has to be in court, he’s up early. Earlier than Sonny has to be. He gives Sonny one last look as he leaves to go hop in the shower.

When he returns to their bedroom to get dressed Sonny is still in bed in the same position he left him in when he went to take a shower. Rafael playfully slaps Sonny’s hip on his way to his closet. “Hey! You gonna get up? It's after seven.”

Sonny lets out a grunt but doesn’t move.

“Suit yourself,” Rafael says as he lowers his towel and starts to get dressed. He busies himself with his normal morning routine. Moving efficiently back and forth between the bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen reciting out loud his opening statement. He’s half expecting Sonny to comment or give his advice, but the younger man does not. In fact, Sonny has remained quiet and in bed all morning. He’s barely moved and that was only to curl himself further into the fetal position.

Far too soon, it’s time for Rafael to leave. “Hey,” he says as he bends down by the side of the bed, looking at Soony The bags under the younger man’s eyes are darker and bigger than usual “Did you get any sleep?”

“Some,” Sonny says with his eyes still closed.

Rafael runs a hand through Sonny’s hair. “Stomach still bothering you?”

Sonny nods his head again as Rafael runs his hand over Sonny’s cheek, not liking the clammy and slightly too warm feeling.

“You feel a little warm. Maybe you picked up a stomach bug? You were around Jesse the other day. Kids are little typhoid Mary’s wreaking havoc on everyone else’s immune systems but their own.” Rafael is expecting at least an eyeroll, but he got nothing. “The Mancusso trial starts this morning, I can try and ask for a continuance.”

Sonny shakes his head. “Go. Just need to sleep for a bit. I’ll be fine.”

“You’ll be okay here?” Rafael asks. He really doesn’t want to leave Sonny like this, but he doesn’t have much of a choice. This trial has been continued three times already thanks to the Defense. He has witnesses lined up and can’t really afford to have the case continued to another day, but he will if he has to.

“I’m going to call Liv and tell her you’re going to go in for later. Give you some time to sleep. If you’re still not feeling better later, call her back and tell her you’re not going in. Okay?”

Normally, Sonny would object to Rafael asking Liv for such a favor. Him using his friendship with Liv for favors on behalf of Sonny has been a source of discontent between them in the past. The detective does not want others to see him as getting special treatment just because his boyfriend is good friends with his boss. But, Rafael doesn’t see it that way. He sees it as Sonny finally getting the time off that he’s deserved with a little push from his and his superior’s mutual friend.

But, this time Sonny doesn’t object. Rafael feels even more like shit for leaving now. He leaves the room to make the phone call and comes back with a bottle of water and a bottle of ibuprofen. He puts both on the nightstand. He picks up the other man’s phone. “I talked to Liv. She’s okay with you coming in later. I said around eleven. There’s no new case. She and Fin are going to be at the courthouse all day, so you’ll l just be doing paper work anyway. I’m setting your alarm for ten. That’ll give you about three hours. If you’re still not feeling good, text her that you’re not coming in. Okay?”

Sonny nods. “’kay.”

Rafael bends down to give Sonny a kiss but stops himself. What if he’s contagious? The last thing Rafael needs is to get sick. And not just because of the trial. Sonny may be a pain when he’s sick, but Rafael is unbearable. He can’t help it. And Sonny’s germophobic tendencies don’t help. The last time he got a cold and it turned into bronchitis, Sonny all but moved out into the living room for the duration. Yep, him getting sick is the last thing he and Sonny need.

He settles for squeezing Sonny’s shoulder. “Love you, feel better. I’ll text you when I can.”

Rafael hears a murmured love you in return as he exits the bedroom. He grabs his brief case and quickly leaves their apartment without looking back, for he’s afraid if he does he’ll end up listening to that little voice in his head that’s telling him not to leave.

As soon as the door closes behind Rafael, Sonny lurches off the bed and races towards the bathroom. It’s almost as if his stomach had the know all not to make its’ contents known until after Rafael left. Yes, Sonny wanted him to stay. But, he also knew Rafael couldn’t. The victim has waited too long. The Defense has been playing games from the beginning, stalling the case for over a year. Filing frivolous motions. The trial needed to happen. 

Besides, what was Rafael going to do if he stayed home with him. What good could he do? Sit by his sick bed wiping his forehead with a wet towel? Getting him water? No, Rafael is better suited for the court room. That’s his domain

Still, the thought of Rafael sparring off against that asshole defense attorney does not bring him much peace of mind as Sonny’s emptying his stomach contents into the toilet bowl.

Racing from their bedroom to the bathroom is how he spends the next couple of hours. So much for catching up on some much sleep. In between his trips to the bathroom, he makes sure to answer Rafael’s text asking how he’s doing. He replies with a “Been Better” and then follows up with a “kick some ass counselor” in hopes not to make the other man second guess himself for going into work.

God, he’s never eating Korean-Jamaican fusion again.

After the third trip to the bathroom, he’s decided that he’s never eating any type of fusion again.

After the fourth trip. No, he takes it all back. He’s never eating again, period. 

After the fifth trip leaves him boneless and exhausted, leaning against the toilet bowl, he’s decided that he's done with these marathon sprints to the bathroom. His stomach isn’t feeling any better. If anything it’s feeling worse. The dull ache he woke up to hours before has been replaced with a sharper pain. He’s hot. He feels gross. He can feel the sweat drenching his back. 

He slowly gets up and goes back to the bedroom. Sonny strips off his sweaty t-shirt and replaces it with one of Rafael’s old Harvard ones that he commandeered awhile back. He grabs a pillow and the blanket that’s at the bottom of the bed. The turning and gurgling of his stomach tells him he’s not done getting sick, but these trips back and forth are zapping his energy. He knows laying on the bathroom floor is not the best option, but it sure as hell beats racing there every ten minutes. And, he refuses to use a bucket. He’s not a college kid who partied too hard.

Sonny gently lowers himself onto the cool, bathroom floor. He sighs as his overheated skin meets the refreshingly, cool tile There’s no way he’s going to make it in today. Even though the pain seems to have let up a bit, he still feels drained. He looks at his watch. It’s 9:41. He has to text Lieu to tell her that he’s not going to go in today. Shit. He left his cell phone on his nightstand and he has just gotten comfortable. He’s just going to rest a few minutes before he calls her. He sighs contently into his pillow as his tired body finally drifts off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When it becomes apparent that no one has seen or heard from Sonny, Liv sends Rollins over to his place to check on him.

Even after years of watching Barba in the courtroom, he still ceases to surprise Liv and the other members of the SVU with his tenacity and wit. Today’s opening statements in the Mancusso case, as well as the beginnings of the state’s case has Barba on his A Game as Fin and Liv look on.

It also helps that the state has a good case. There’s ample forensic evidence and the defendant has a checkered past. The only thing that has allowed this sham to even get to trial instead of getting plead out, is the defendant’s sheer stupidity. Barba was just getting into the meat of the case when the defendant’s counsel raised some nonsensical objection resulting in the current, heated side bar.

With court currently on hold, Liv is checking her phone. When Fin sees her look of confusion, he asks her if everything is ok. She shows him the text from Rollins: You hear from Carisi? I thought he was supposed to be here for 11? He's not here.

Liv checks the time of Rollins last text. 11:46. 

“Is he still home?” Fin asks.

“Must be,” Liv answers as she sends Rollins a text back that she hasn’t heard from him but will check with Barba to see if he had when she gets the chance.

“He feeling that bad?” Fin asks.

“Bad enough for Barba to ask me to let him come in late today.”

Fin nods. It must be bad. As much as he might bust the younger man’s chops over his relationship with the DA, he knows that Carisi refuses anything that can be perceived as preferential treatment because of his relationship with Barba. So Carisi must have been feeling like complete shit if he didn’t throw a fill fit when Barba called Liv earlier this morning asking if Carisi could go in late.

“Damn,” Fin replies. He motions to Barba. “I take it he didn’t eat that Kimchi Jamaican Beef Pattie thing that Carisi was going on about yesterday. Now that's putting his Harvard law degree to good use.”

Liv chuckles. “My guess is no.”

The lieutenant pockets her cell phone when she sees Barba and the slimy defense attorney return to their tables. She’ll touch base with him when they recess for lunch.

XXXThey don’t end up recessing for lunch until nearly one. The judge is clearly fed up with the Defense’s stalling tactics and wants to move the case along. The judge is barely out of the courtroom when Barba takes out his cell phone. He rubs the space between his eyebrows, he’s clearly worried about something.

“Rafa?” Liv calls.

“Liv,” he replies as he turns around, still looking at his cell phone.

“Is everything okay?” Liv asks, but Rafael doesn’t answer her. He’s clearly worried about something. Her guess is that it’s the same thing that she is. “Have you heard from Carisi?”

That gets his attention. He looks up in alarm. “No, not since before court started. Why?”

“Rollins texted me. He never came in.”

“He didn’t call you?”

She shakes her head. 

“Damn it,” Rafael says as he takes out his phone and presumabky calls Sonny. . “Pick up, pick up.”

“What’s going on?” Fin asks as he rejoins the pair after stepping out to use the restroom.

Liv turns to him. “Rollins just texted me, still no sign of Carisi. He’s not at SVU and Rollins said he hasn’t responded to any of her texts.”

She glances over at a clearly frustrated Rafael. The DA is pacing across the court floor, muttering into his phone. “And from the looks of it, I don’t think he’s picking up his phone either.”

Rafael puts his phone down and turns to Liv and Fin. “I’m going to kill him. He’s not picking up.”

The prosecutor looks at his phone. Doing some mental math before he starts to pack up his things. There’s no way he’s going to make it to their place and back in an hour. He has no other choice. “I’m going to go ask the judge for a continuance.”

Liv holds up her hand. “Now hold on a sec, Rafa. Let’s not jump to any conclusions.”

“Yeah, I mean knowing Carisi he’s probably fell asleep on the couch binge watching something on Netflix with his phone on vibrate.”

Liv takes out her phone to make a call. “I’m sure there’s a good reason why he’s not answering. But to be safe, I’ll send over Rollins to check on him. She’s closer to your place than we are. And that way you don’t have to ask Judge Bruneau for a continuance.”

“I don’t know. I told him to call you if he decided not to come in. That's not like him to blow off work like that,” Rafael replies worriedly..

“Like Fin said, he probably fell asleep before he could call me. He’s fine,” Liv tries to reassure Rafael. 

He reluctantly agrees as Liv dials Rollins. “Yeah, Rollins. Can you do me favor? Yeah, okay. Head over to and Barba and Carisi’s place and check on him.”

XXX

Rollins lets herself into Carisi and Barba’s apartment with the key that the detective have given her months ago when he and Barba went away for a week and she was tasked wiht checking in on their place,

Carisi?” She calls as she moves into the empty kitchen. Looking around the only thing out of place in the tidy kitchen is a lone coffee cup in the kitchen sink

“Carisi? You here?” Rollins calls out as she moves down the hallway. She’s heading to the bedroom when she sees that the light is on in the bathroom. Curious, she walks in and stops dead in her tracks at the sight before her.

Somehow, Carisi has done the impossible. Carisi has managed to wrap his lanky form around the toilet. She can’t help but twitch at the sight. Carisi is such a germaphobe so him lying on the bathroom floor literally hugging the toilet instantly has her on edge. A healthy Carisi would never in his wildest dreams be doing this.

“Jesus, Carisi.” Rollins says as she bends down to get a closer look at her partner. She can feel the heat pouring off of him, but she can see him shivering under the blanket that he has wrapped around himself. In an attempt to rouse him, she places a hand on the back of his neck. The effect is instantaneous, his eyes pop open and he pushes away from her touch.

“Carisi? You with me?”

It takes a second for him to place where the voice is coming from, but he soon does. He looks at her with glassy, fever bright eyes. “Rollins? What the hell are you doing in my bathroom?”

She rolls her eyes at him as she helps him sit up. “Lieu sent me.”

He looks at her confused. “What?”

“You were supposed to be in at 11 and it’s after 1. You never called or texted anyone. When you didn’t pick up your phone, I got the call to come check on you,” Rollins explains.

“Crap,” Carisi says running a hand through his hair. “She pissed?”

Rollins shrugs her shoulders. “More like concerned.”

Carisi leans his head back against the sink. “Barba pissed?”

She whistles “Oh yeah.”

“Shit,” Sonny curses as he rubs his aching head,

"“I don’t know a lot of Spanish, but Fin took a lot of pleasure in translating for me. Something about a horse’s ass among other things,” she says as she moves to sit next to her partner.

“Just great.“ Carisi replies. He already feels like shit. The last thing he needs is to deal with a pissed off, concerned Rafael. 

“It’ll be okay,” she reassures him as she looks at her partner. “Come on, let’s get you off this floor.”

She stands up and holds out a hand to help him up. “Come on.”

He’s a little unsteady, but he’s soon on his feet. Rollins has a supporting hand on his arm as they turn to leave when he suddenly wrestles out of her hold and turns back to the toilet, kneeling in front of it.

It’s several long minutes before he stops vomiting. There’s not much to bring up, but that doesn’t seem to matter as he spits bile into the toilet. After which dry heaves takes over. Rollins hands him a bottle of water, urging him to take a few sips. But, those few sips soon make a reappearance as well.

“Carisi, this isn’t good,” Rollins sighs as she runs a hand over his forehead. She pulls her arm away when she feels the intense heat. But, what is more concerning is the lack of sweat. With the amount of heat seeping out of him, Sonny should be sweating buckets. But, he’s not. His skin is bone dry. Shit. “Does your head hurt?”

He rubs his head. “Yeah. It’s kinda pounding.”

Rollins looks at him sitting in front of the toilet, a bleary eyed, shivering and dangerously pale mess. She needs to get him to the hospital. “Fine, but I’ll bring you on three conditions.”

He looks up at her. “Okay, what are they?”

“One, you momentarily get over your aversion to vomiting in anything other than a toilet. We’re getting a bucket for the car ride. I just had the car cleaned.”

Carisi nods. “Fair enough. And two?”

She looks at him sitting on the bathroom floor wearing only a Harvard t-shirt and boxers. “You’re putting on a pair of pants. You’re not sitting in my car with nothing but your boxer shorts between you and the seats.”

“Okay. Three?"

“If you get any worse. I mean it. You stop being lucid. Your fever goes even higher. Anything that I say is worse than this," Rollins motions to the sceme before her. "That’s it. The lights and sirens are going on. No arguments. This is not a negotiation.”

He shakily nods his head. “No arguments. That’s it?"

“That’s it,” she says as she gives him a hand to help him up. But, he pushes it away and turns around to once again get sick in the toilet. “Yeah, this is a great idea.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rollins has the car ride from hell with a sick Carisi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been forever since I updated this. But, I'm back.
> 
> Also, I think I have another idea for the next work in this series. It came to me when I was writing this chapter. I'm sure you guys will probably pick up on it as you read the chapter. I'm really excited about getting to work on it!

There’s only ten minutes left before court is set to reconvene after lunch. But Rafael is chomping at the bit to go beg Judge Evers for a continuance. He still hasn’t heard from Sonny and Rollins hasn’t been in touch since she headed to their apartment to check on Sonny.

“That’s it. I can’t wait any longer.” Rafael says as he begins packing up the papers on the state’s table. “I have to go see Judge Evers to see if I can get a continuance.” He’s hastily packing his brief case when Liv’s phone rings.

“Hold on, Barba. Rollins is calling,” Liv calls out to him before answering her phone.

Rafael anxiously stands by as he listens in on Liv’s portion of the phone conversation.

Rollins...uh huh…okay...yeah... hey Carisi…hold on…he’s right here.” She hands him her hone. “Carisi wants to talk to you.”

"Sonny?! Where the hell have you been?” Rafael asks. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you all morning.”

" _Hey, Rafi.” Sonny replies._

Rafael rolls his eyes. Of course leave it to Sonny to be all nonchalant while simultaneously scaring Rafael shitless. ‘Don’t ‘Hi, Rafi’ me,  Sonny!” Rafael hisses. “I’ve been worried sick about you all morning when you didn’t answer my calls or my texts.”

" _Sorry, Rafi.” Sonny apologizes._

The lawyer is about to bite back that Sonny damn well should be when he hears a car horn over the phone. “Wait, are you in a car? Where are you going?”

" _Yeah,” Sonny hiccups. “Rollins is being a bit of a hypochondriac. She’s taking me to the ER to get checked out. I told her it’s_ n _othing, That I’m fine. It’s probably just a case of food poisoning. But, she ain’t listening to me.”_

Rafael can’t help but visibly wince when he hears that Sonny is on the way to the ER. First, Rollins is not one to over react. It must be serious if she thinks a trip to the ER is warranted.

Second, Rafael knows enough that Sonny’s proclamation that it’s ‘nothing’ means that’s it’s probably anything but. The last time Sonny said it was nothing was after a messy domestic awhile back. A father was suspected to have assaulted both his wife and daughter. Unfortunately, the wife was too scared to admit that it was the husband that put her in the hospital. With no other evidence, they were forced to let him go. Sadly, but predictably it happened again two days later. Fin and Sonny responded to the 911 call. Fin tended to the young daughter while Sonny found the husband holding a broken beer bottle to the throat of his wife. The wife came out of the confrontation physically unharmed  but Sonny didn’t fare as well. In his words, Sonny zigged when he should have zagged and ended up getting a jagged slash to the side. Just as now, he insisted it was nothing. Just a scratch. Just a scratch, his ass. The subsequent thirty stitches to the side and blood transfusion tells a different story. It wasn’t nothing,  

That’s why when a pained Sonny is telling him right now over the phone that it’s nothing, it does nothing to quell the growing worry in Rafael’s gut.

Yeah well do me a favor and humor Rollins, will ya?” Rafael says.

" _Fine,” Sonny replies in a pain filled voice. He lets out a pain gasp and says in a rush. “Gotta go.”_

 Rafael looks at his phone dumb founded. “He just hung up on me.”

 XXXXX

"Did you just hang up on him?” Rollins asks loudly over the sound of her partner getting violently ill.

It takes a good minute before Sonny picks his head up from the small garbage can he grabbed from Rafael’s home office. “I didn’t want him to worry. I’m fine.”

Before she can reply, Sonny is once again throwing up. Rollins rolls her eyes. She wrinkles her nose as she rolls down the window. “Fine, my ass. How do you have anything left to throw up?” She can’t help but gag when Sonny picks his head up and wipes his mouth with the sleeve of his hoodie.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Sonny says after spitting into the garbage can. “Your driving is exactly helping.”

“Yeah, well right now you’re lucky that I don’t have the lights and flashes going after you nearly took that nose getting into the car. Look, I know you didn’t want to worry Barba, but I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what that phone call did. You didn’t even tell him where I was taking you.”

 Sonny waves off her comment as he once again has his head inside the small garbage can. Rollins’ phone lets out a loud ring as Sonny’s vomiting picks back up.

“Barba, hey.”

 _“He hung up on me,” Barba says._ Rollins gives her partner’s hunched form the stink eye.

“Yeah, sorry about that. His stomach’s a mess…”

 Sonny lets out a particular loud retch.

 _“Is that him getting sick?” Rafael asks._ Rollins does not need to be in front of the DA to see the disgust that’s no doubt on his face. His tone says it all.

“Yeah, he was camped out on your bathroom floor when I went over to your place. He hasn’t been able to keep anything down. I think he’s dehydrated. That’s why I’m going to take him to St. Michael’s. Maybe they can give him something for the vomiting. Give him some fluids at least.”

_“Okay, I’ll see if I can get Evers to give me a continuance.”_

“Nooo,” Sonny says in between gags. “Don’t.”

 Rollins looks away from her partner. “Evers is going to be pissed. It’s already been continued like twice already.  The case has been stalled enough already. Carisi’s probably just going to get an IV with fluids and anti-nausea meds, anyways. He’ll probably be ready to go home by the time court ends for the day.”

_“You sure?” Barba asks._

 He sounds so unsure. It's so unlike the tough as nails DA that she's used to that it takes a few seconds for Rollins to respond. “I got him,” Rollins reassures.

_“Thanks, Rollins. Court is getting ready to reconvene, text me to let me know what’s going on.”_

 “Will do,” Rollins promises.

_“And Rollins?”_

 “Yesssss, Barba.” Rollins says. Jesus. What else does the man want? Her car smells reeks of vomit. It’s going to take some heavy duty cleaning to get the smell out. And now it looks like she’s going to be spending the rest of what was supposed to be a quiet afternoon in the Emergency Room.

 " _Take care of him.”_

 So Rafael Barba does have a heart. She has seen flighting glimpses of it over the years. Most notably, Sonny has mentioned instances here and there, but she has never been witnessed to such a blatant display of affection from the DA. That is until now. She looks over to Sonny’s sick form. Then again if anyone can get someone to grow a heart, it’s her partner.

 “Don’t worry, Barba. I got him.” Rollins says before she hangs up.

 Sonny lets out another loud gag as a bout of chills falls over his body. She puts her foot on the gas as she reaches over to her partner and rubs his clammy neck. “Easy, Carisi. I got you.”


	4. Chapter 4

_How’s_ _Carisi?_

Rollins stares at her phone, her fingers frozen over the key pad as she thinks of how to respond. Her attention turns to her partner as he lets out a pitiful groan, resting his head on the side of the garbage can that’s sitting in his lap. They arrived at the ER a little under two hours ago. Upon their arrival Carisi was quickly registered and then sent back to the crowded waiting room to wait to be called. The ER is extremely busy so it shouldn’t come as no surprise that they are still waiting as more pressing cases are taken care of before Carisi’s.

In the two hours since they arrived, Carisi’s condition has not gotten any better. He has barely moved from his hunched position over the garbage can resting in his lap. With his strikingly pale complexion, he looks like he can easily blend into the waiting room’s white tiled floor. His body can’t make up its mind whether or not it’s too hot or too cold. One minute he’s fighting to get his sweatshirt off, the next he’s shivering. On the plus sign, Carisi isn’t throwing up as much as he was. But Rollins thinks that’s more because there’s nothing left to, than anything else.

And even worse, Carisi is playing a damn martyr. It’s so infuriating but at the same time it’s so Carisi. Every time Rollins goes to get up to see how much longer it’s going to be or voice her aggravation at what the hell is taking so longer, she’s stopped by Carisi who tells her to just wait. That his turn is coming and that obviously other people need medical attention before him. That is when Carisi last spoke about twenty minutes ago. Since then, her partner has been frightening silent. It’s so unnerving. So unnatural. So not Carisi.

Hoping to get a response out of him, she touches Carisi feverish cheek. He doesn’t flinch away. Doesn’t tell her to get her icy fingers off him. He doesn’t respond at all.

“Hey Carisi, you with me? I bet that’s the last time you try any crazy fusion hot spots. ” Rollins chuckles as she lowers her head to try and get a better view of her partner. He doesn’t rise to the bait. “Come on, you got to give me something. Barba is freaking out and I have to tell him something other than we’re waiting to have you seen.”

At every available chance he could find, Barba has texted her for updates. Sadly, there wasn’t much of an update to give. Rollins could feel the prosecutor’s increasing frustration in his every response to Rollins’ texts telling him the same thing over and over. That Carisi was still sick and that they were still waiting to be seen by the doctor.

“Nothing? You know he’s probably on his way down here,” Rollins adds hoping to get some kind of response. When her attempt fails, she goes to stand up. “This is getting ridiculous. I’m gonna go see what’s the hold up.”

“Dominick Carisi, Junior?” A nurse calls out. “Mr. Carisi?”

“It’s about damn time,” Rollins mutters and turns to her partner. “Come on, Carisi. Let’s go.”

She helps him to his feet. Her hand is on his elbow, guiding him towards the nurse. They only make it a few feet when he stumbles from her grasp and falls to the floor face first.

XXXXX

“Anything?” Barba asks.

Benson sighs. Rollins still hasn’t responded to her last text. “Last thing Rollins texted me was that they were still waiting to be seen.”

“He still hasn’t been seen yet?” Barba bites. “They’ve been there for two hours already.”

“Yeah,” Fin says. “But you know how ER’s are.”

“I know, but I still don’t like this.”

“I know you don’t, Barba,” Benson says. “I’m going to step out and call Rollins. It’s harder to not answer a call as opposed to a text.”

“Okay,” Barba nods as Benson leaves the court room.

XXXXX

“What are his symptoms?” A doctor asks Rollins as they stand by Carisi’s unconscious body. He’s still out following his spill in the waiting room. As the doctor spits out orders to nurses, Rollins’ gaze is transfixed to the piece of bloody gauze that’s covering a gash above her partner’s left eye.

“Miss?” A nurse calls out. “What do you know about his symptoms?”

“Uhhh…He’s been sick since this morning.”

Another nurse looks over Carisi’s chart. “Abdominal pain started over night. Been vomiting since early this morning. According to the triage nurse, his temp is 101.3. BP is 169 over 91. Pulse is 86. He just lost consciousness about three minutes ago.”

“Could be because of the pain,” the doctor says. “Let’s get new vitals. In the meantime, set up an IV. Let’s get some fluids in him.”

Rollins stays off to the side and out of the medical staff’s way as they continue their work, as Carisi remains oblivious to everything that’s going on around him. The doctor pushes up Carisi’s sweatshirt and starts to poke around at his stomach. She can’t help but flinch when a still unconscious Carisi lets out a pained moan when the doctor touches a particular spot in his lower stomach.

“Looks like we have guarding and pain in the lower right abdomen,” the doctor says. “Let’s get an ultrasound.”

Ultrasound? What’s wrong with Carisi?

“Hey! What’s-what’s going on with him?” Rollins asks. Ignoring her phone as it vibrates in her pocket.

The doctor turns to look at her. “You family?”

“No. I'm his partner. we're detectives.”

“She can’t consent,’ the doctor says to himself.

“Consent to what?” Rollins asks frantically.

“You need to get someone down here who can consent to surgery. Because he can’t,” the doctor says motioning to the still form of her partner.

“Surgery? Surgery for what?” Rollins can feel her phone vibrating again. Whoever is calling is not happy that they’re being ignored.

“We have to do an ultrasound to confirm, but we’re thinking this is appendicitis. We need someone who can consent to surgery to have his appendix removed before it ruptures. The sooner we can get him into surgery the better,” the doctor explains.

“I need to make a phone call,” Rollins says as she steps out of the exam room.

XXXXX

“She still hasn’t answered?” Fin asks when Benson lets out an irritated sigh.

“Nope. And I called her twice.”

“If she’s not picking up, it probably means she can’t,” Fin says.

“That’s not exactly making me feel better, Fin.” Benson says.

“Hey! I’m just calling things like I see him,” Fin explains.

“I know. You’re right.” Benson agrees. “I just hate---”

But whatever Benson is about to say is cut short when her phone starts ringing.

“Rollins?” Fin asks.

Benson nods as she picks up. “Rollins! I’ve been trying to call you.”

_“I know. Sorry, I was in the exam room with Carisi.”_

“Do they know what’s going on with him?”

_“Yeah, they think it’s his appendix. He needs surgery, but they need someone to consent to it before they can go in.”_

Benson shakes her head confused. “What do you mean they need someone to consent. Why can’t Carisi do it?”

_“He’s unconscious right now.”_

“Unconscious!” Benson yells as Fin lets out a muttered curse. “What the hell happened?”

_“He passed out when the nurse called him. I don’t know if it was because of pain, exhaustion, or what, but he passed out. He obviously can’t consent to surgery. But they need someone to.”_

“Barba,” Benson surmises.

_“Barba,”_ Rollins repeats. “And the quicker the better. _They’re afraid Carisi’s appendix is going to rupture.”_

“Okay,” Benson says. “Okay, I’ll talk to Barba and get him down there. You stay with Carisi.”

_“You got it,”_ Rollins says before hanging up.

“So let me get this straight. Carisi has appendicitis but passed out before he could consent to surgery. And of course Rollins called you. That way you can be the one to break the news to Barba,” Fin says. “Rollins is no fool. She doesn’t want to be that messenger.”

“That just about covers it,” Benson replies.

“Good luck,” Fin says. “Thanks,” Benson says as she looks towards the court room’s doors. “I’m going to need it.”

**Author's Note:**

> I know Rafael may sound heartless in the beginning of this, but just think of how many time we all had a stomach ache that turned out to be nothing. And I also have it in my head that this is not the first time Sonny has woken Rafael up when he was trying to sleep.


End file.
